Things I Think and Want to Remember

Continuing...

2009-12-21T20:52:00.000-08:00

Hey there, friends, most of my blogging energy is going into my newish gaming blog, Continuing Clockwise. You should go there and read!

Reflections from 9/12/09 DnD Session

2009-09-15T11:09:00.000-07:00

There’s a trend of rules interface glitches with the module and standard D&D rules. They aren’t 100% compatible. For some things, it’s minor, such as use of the term ‘bruised’ instead of ‘bloodied.’ For others, it’s potentially more troublesome, such as the rules surrounding pushing there was also a subtle monster design difference for a creature who swallows characters. In the module, swallowed characters could use only melee basic attacks; in similar monsters in the Monster Manual 2, they may also use close burst attacks.

Because that monster got lucky and quickly swallowed 1/3 of the party, the situation seemed potentially dire, especially since the swallowed PC endures ongoing damage, and the only way to escape is by killing the creature. With a larger party, this wouldn’t be so terrible, since the large majority of the fire power is outside of the restriction. In this case, it was a full third of the group’s firepower. When the players panicked a little (mostly the one who’d been swallowed), I panicked a little and quickly lowered the creature’s level by two. I also fudged a die roll when the same creature stunned the other two members of the group in the next round and let the striker off the hook. The players were none the wiser (yay DM screen!). Both were probably the right decisions, but I also think merely reducing the level by one would have been appropriate as well.

I actually like the creature, after the adjustment to allow bursts and will probably add in another next session. Anything with stun affects are risky with small parties, so I’m not certain yet how that encounter will look.

This session included lots of pounding at defenseless things by the party. There was one secret door that they couldn’t unlock (they didn’t find the key, and have no thieving skills), and there was a trapped gelatinous cube at the bottom of a ziggurat. While I wouldn’t want too much of that, it worked out okay. There’s no real reason why they couldn’t pound away at the door and cube, and it allowed the plot to move forward in a relatively realistic way.

Another odd twist about this session resulted from a combination of factors. We had a new player to the group – but probably the most experienced at the table playing a wizard. He appropriately tended to stay in the rear of the small party. There also happened to be several intelligent, sneaky times of monsters this session, so he got picked on more than a little. Now the wizard is out of surges (he was also the one who got swallowed). I really thought his character might die there for awhile, and I didn’t want that to happen; not to a new player.

I’m not entirely happy with the representation of the swamp; there’s something about natural settings that challenge me on the battle map.

Isoniazid, Day Three

2009-08-22T10:22:00.001-07:00

I've decided not to worry too much about the food... I will be cautious, especially at the beginning, but this is a fundamental quality of life issue, and I'm a Superman. Right?

I am taking the liver / alcohol aspect seriously. So far, so good. Right now my plan is no more than 5 alcoholic drinks per week and no more than one per day. I'm good with structure like that, even when it's self imposed structure. I'm thinking, as a rule, a drink on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, then Tuesday and Wednesday (traditional date nights). I really enjoy my wind down after D&D drink, so I may swap around, or I may scale down further.

I drank the last good beers from the fridge on Wednesday, and started the medication on Thursday.

Drugs!

2009-08-21T19:24:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I had my annual TB skin test from work, and it came up positive. It's not a big deal, but it does mean I have a 1 - 2% chance of contracting 'real' tuberculosis in my life time. If I were to contract the disease, it would be most likely to happen when I was immuno-suppressed for some other reason. If I should (heaven forbid) get cancer, or HIV or be on lots of steroids for some reason, that's when the TB would strike. While I have no reason to worry specifically about those illnesses, life is long, and one never knows. In the back of my head, I always expected cancer to be what gets me, probably because my grandfather died of lung cancer. Of course, he smoked and I don't, so, again, no specific reason to worry.

I decided to start the 9 month antibiotic treatment of Isoniazid, in order to wipe away that chance of getting TB later in life. With this drug comes a few shifts in life style until mid-May, when I conclude the course. First, my doctor suggested I have less than one alcoholic drink per day. This is to protect my liver.

There are also other food and beverages that contain Tyramine that might react badly and cause "very dangerous reactions such as sudden high blood pressure." Soy products are on that list, as are all beers (including non-alcoholic) and wine. Hrmph. My doc didn't seem that worried about the foods and whatnot, but my pharmacist did.

I think I need to do some more research, so I know what's what. I'll report my findings.

Notes from the Session

2009-07-28T15:23:00.001-07:00

During the prep, I developed two primary paths the PCs could take; one would lead to Goodman Games’ Dragora’s Dungeon, the other, to some other, swampy content. I had one NPC advocate one choice, a second NPC wanted the other. While I thought the arguments were fairly balanced, it only took a moment for the decision to be made. On one hand, that’s good because there wasn’t frustration… on the other, there wasn’t the sense of genuine dilemma. These guys are heroes, after all. If there’s an option to solve something themselves, that’s what they’re going to choose.

While I’m pleased with the real option, I’d like to improve my dilemma level.

During the prep, the PCs did some minor bullying of court employees in order to provide themselves with a financial tip. Two of the three succeeded, the last did not, and the transaction ended. This ‘encounter’ was completely unexpected and I think I did a good job of inventing an NPC on the spot and running the interaction which included some skill rolls. The group gained solid advantage, but didn’t succeed completely – it even made sense that the character with the low charisma is the one who failed.

To provide some context, the PCs recently arrived in a small pocked dimension and found themselves in the court of Elwind the Matriarch. In the night, powerful magic hit the castle, sending everyone asleep, except for the two PCs who made their saving throws. Everyone was able to wake except for the highest leaders – the Matriarch, her cabinet members (including Mr. Fromell, the Tiefling minister introduced to the earlier) and the captain of the Zain-kin guard pledged to protect the land.

The Zain-kin are a species of large, military monkey-men; the last known clan of them lives in one of the town’s neighborhoods. As a whole, they are allied with Elwind.

As they prepared to seek out the caster of the spell, I wanted to spare them from another tracking skill challenge, so I offered to send a guide along. Only then they researched the magic as provided for in the module, and the guide became superfluous. The PCs still insisted on having their guide, so I went along with it. I planned to send him home when they reached the mouth of the dungeon, no biggie, I thought.

I didn’t put together, however, that I had planned an encounter of raiding Gnolls from the nearby demon controlled region. I quickly downgraded “Scotch” the Zain-kin guide to minion, added an extra gnoll minion, and made sure that poor Scotch didn’t survive the battle. Problem solved, with only minor complaints that they were issued a defective ape-man.

I also didn’t really expect them to fight the Gnolls. One of the PCs has a fairly high passive perception, so they were able to hear the monsters coming. Since the gnolls had nothing to do with their mission (I included them in order to set up future conflict with that region), I thought they might hide from sight.

One nuts and bolts lesson from this encounter: when I drew the (impromptu) battlemap, I should have positioned the characters better, from a practical standpoint. They started at the bottom center, and the gnolls started in the left edge (all relative to me). This had the affect of making much of my terrain irrelevant and made the outside battlefield seem artificially small. All in all it didn’t matter much, but could have been better. My balance of bushy ‘obscuring’ terrain and 5 and 10 foot rocks worked really well. There was cover, and climbing, and hiding and all that good stuff.

I probably should have accelerated the damage at the end of the fight: the toughest mob, with the most hp was saved until last (wisely on all sides); yet there was no doubt how the battle would end. Gnolls don’t run (as a rule) and the PCs had plenty of firepower; not to mention it was the last encounter of their day. I could have easily increased damage by .5 on all sides when the outcome became assured…

The last big takeaway came when they got to the first encounter area of the module. Even though the book is divided into sections, very often the different sections are encountered simultaneously. For example, in our session, as the PCs rappel down to a ledge, the ropes are cut and rocks are hurled at their heads. No problem, however, in the next section of text, you learn that the ground they have just reached is trapped. The lesson here is that good DMs, like good facilitators, good writers, good managers etc… really need to understand how the parts interact and affect one another. This requires some forward thinking and some time spent paying attention to the details.

Steve McNair's BAC

2009-07-21T08:03:00.001-07:00

Steve McNair, the retired NFL quarterback who was shot in his sleep last week, had a blood alcohol content of .16 at the time of his death. Almost every story I've read describes it as 'twice the legal limit.' While it's twice the legal limit to drive, HE WASN'T DRIVING. He was sleeping. While .16 is in the feel-good range of consumption, it isn't remarkable, and doesn't imply any inappropriate behavior.

By phrasing his BAC as 'twice the legal limit' the AP is manufacturing a false connection between Mr. McNair's murder and his ability to drive.

Link Light Rail

2009-07-21T07:29:00.000-07:00

Seattle's new Link light rail system opened over the weekend, and I made my first commute with it this morning.

I don't live quite close enough to a station to make it simple. Instead, I have to take a bus for about .75 of a mile to connect with a train. I discovered that I can take a normal, non-express bus to the station, get on the Link, transfer in the bus tunnel (no walking required) and arrive in about the same amount of time it would have taken on an express bus.

This isn't all that helpful for the daily, normal commute. I do think this will be very helpful on weekends and times when express buses either don't run or when I've missed the window for them. In a sense, but transferring the the Link, I can convert any normal bus into an express trip, with some relatively minor adjustments.

I'm particularly interested in seeing how the Link will help me get home after sporting events and during snowy weather.

An unexpected benefit is that I feel like I'm in the Warriors movie when I ride the train. I suppose that's a benefit, since it's a good movie. It's not a world I'd like to live in though...

Listen to Jesus, Jimmy.

2009-06-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

In the category of random internet, and also a part of my fascination with odd religion. I honestly can't tell how much of this is parody. Is Jesus trying to lure Jimmy from weed by offering sexual hedonism?

Extra!

2009-06-26T13:31:00.000-07:00

I had a chance to help some friends out by performing as an extra for their web series, "Family." You should check it out.

Scale of Useful Numbers

2009-06-05T16:26:00.000-07:00

I listened to Freakonomics on audiobook a few weeks ago, and it stimulated some thinking that led to the following analysis:

The usefullness of a number can be evaluated on the following scale, the higher, the better:

1) A number by itself. For example, '5 were spoiled.' What does '5' mean? Well, not much by itself, but it is fairly low, while also greater than '0'... ultimately there's infinite room for uncertainty when a number is presented by itself.

2) A number with a denomenator, eg, '5 out of 7 were spoiled' aka, 5/7ths. Now we're getting somewhere. At we have some sense of scale. More than half, less than 6/7ths...

3) Even better is a number, with a denomenator, plus a unit. '5 of 7 apples were spoiled.' This tells a fairly useful story. Now, it can also be deceptive because it's still a small slice of reality. How many were spoiled last time? How much of other kinds of things are also spoiled? Is it something special about the apples that are making them spoil quickly, or are we lucky to have two fresh ones...

4) The best combination for understanding something is a number, with denomenator, unit and additional comparisons. For example, '5 of 7 apples were spoiled, but 1 out of 10 oranges were smashed.' Or perhaps, '75 out of 100 patients with this diagnosis will die, but if given a specific drug, 60 out of 100 will die.' If you only had the second part of that example, '60 out of 100 will die' you might think it was a terrible thing, but really it's quite good when compared with the 75 of 100 who would otherwise be expected to pass away.

The mainstream press rarely has the patience to provide useful comparisons of data. We see metrics about accidents, failure rates, and deaths, but rarely are these compared with other baselines, so we can understand the real scale of the problems.

Marvel to D&D 4th Edition

2009-05-24T13:22:00.000-07:00

I'm hoping to get my old, once per year rpg friends to play some D&D 4th edition this summer, and we might try to convert the old Marvel characters into D&D, in order to keep the story going in some way.

As such, I've created a quick table of 4th edition classes by role to help their decision making:

Defender
fighter
warden
paladin
swordmage

Striker
rogue
warlock
barbarian
sorcerer
avenger
ranger

Leader
cleric
bard
shaman
artificer
warlord

Controller
wizard
invoker
druid

Bookends – More Productive Thoughts

2009-05-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

First thing Monday morning, glance over the entire week. Identify key meetings and determine the best time to prepare for them.

At the end of Friday, while doing the weekly report, look forward to next week. See what’s coming up and where to start on Monday.

First thing every morning, glance at the day’s calendar. Make a specific plan for travel, lunch and second breakfast.

Make a list of tasks that need to be completed today.

Clean out the email inbox by deleting, archiving and responding to messages, as appropriate.

At the end of the day, glance over the next day’s schedule. Identify where the day will begin and get a general sense for its shape.

Productivity

2009-05-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

I’ve studied the Take Back Your Life system, and used parts of it, for over a year. The use of Tasks has had mixed results. I never quite got the hang of connecting strategic next actions to projects to meaningful objectives. There are many principles that I found tremendously useful and my own system is influenced by it.

Carve out time to be organized – I carve out some time (usually 30 minutes) every day to keep my email under control and to mentally prepare for the rest of the day. This is when I make sure I have travel time, a plan for eating (including 2nd breakfast), and idea for when I’ll be going home. It’s my way of beginning with the end in mind.

I also have a less rigorous, but still frequent habit of looking ahead at the same things. Will I have time to prepare for important meetings the day prior, or do I need to plan ahead? I have a calendar item for this review as well, which acts primarily as a reminder.

Keep the crap moving: when work can be completed (or at least moved on) in two minutes or less, I do it immediately. I trash what can be trashed, and shuffle the archival stuff into the appropriate reference folder.

Folder organization: I primarily organize my archival folders by project, secondarily by person. Inactive projects have their own folder. I do this to keep the clutter down.

The Physical Part

In lieu of notebooks and calendars, I carry a 1 ¼ inch three ring binder. The front pocket is labeled ‘soon.’ It’s for assorted packets and handouts that I wind up with. Things don’t stay there long, and it’s often empty. The rear pocket is for longer term work related reference sheets.

The first page is my ‘where I need to be and when’ page. Sometimes I’ll hand-write my appointments, sometimes I’ll print out a week’s worth and update it with any changes daily. I often jot down time sensitive ‘to do’s’ here.

The next section is my free form notes space. I use the backs of headed-for-recycling pages, turned over and hole punched. Not only is this environmentally friendly, it’s simple and flexible.

As the pages get filled and become less time sensitive, they go to a section near the back. Eventually those are purged as the notes on the pages become clearly outdated.

Outlook Tasks

I have found tasks useful for tracking big, umbrella issues over time. For example, I have an ongoing task for Greycat’s health, my own personal health (which includes training plan, what races are coming up, etc…), different D&D campaigns that need preparation and/or scheduling. Most of these have a title that is tied to my (somewhat) Meaningful Objectives. There is some value in clearly labeling how a group of tasks is associated with Something Important. In order to do that, those Important Somethings need to be explicit and documented.

I think I’ll focus on using my task list for medium to long term work. It’s a nice way of keeping my eye on the ball, but doesn’t work that well for daily minutiae. Since I already have a weekly rhythm, I’ll start by focusing on the task list on Friday afternoons (briefly) and Monday mornings (with more reflection).

Metro Website Updates

2009-05-01T15:47:00.000-07:00

King County has updated their mass transit website and added a real time blog.

This pleases me.

Lifehacker: Credit Card Limits

2009-05-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

Apparently, it's best to keep your balance for individual credit cards under 25% of the limit. In this part of the credit score calculation, it doesn't matter what your total ratio is, or whether you pay off each month.

Notes on Facilitation

2009-04-29T08:14:00.000-07:00

Many sparkly things have distracted me from the blog lately; Facebook and Twitter are two examples. My work has ramped up, so I've been dedicating notable bandwidth to my professional growth. Below are some personal observations spawned from some recent facilitations:

*********

4/16/09 – 2 Day General Surgery Clinic Prep facilitated work:

The Ground Rules worked well; it felt good to have them for the stakeholder tie-in, it was nice to refer them to the ‘team’s rules of the room.’

I definitely should have focused more on the data. I needed a different plan: PO didn’t have time to enter what we had until late the night before; I decided to enter it the morning of the event, then print fresh charters. All night long, this bugged me. Especially because I wasn’t sure that she had done it at all. I probably should have called PO at the end of the day at made a better, more timely plan. Then, when I did open the data file, I wasn’t familiar with the format since it had been created by one of my cohorts. It should have been plug and play by that point.

We also didn’t have a good number to compare the target with; the information was available, but we hadn’t worked it out and shown it to our PO and Sponsor. Once we hit the event, it was too late; particularly because there was no data consultant in the room with us.

During the stakeholder tie in, I thought I was clear about the type of input we needed; in spite of this, some members focused on more fundamental issues with the event.

One major learning was to not assume alignment with people not in the room. It turned out that leadership had two different visions for what the event’s focus. This would have come out during an Assessment meeting; since we didn’t have one of those, we wound up hearing about it from team members during the morning of day 2. Not okay.

Levering my sense of humor and spontaneity helped me connect with the team. I genuinely believe that they work better when they like you, and when they’re having fun. Even though we had some unfun times, there was enough positive to keep them productive.

How could it have been more fun? We needed some kind of ice-breaker up front, maybe something quick and fun like the questions M2 often asks (M has done it too).

“Problems and Opportunities” doesn’t really fit with A3 problem solving. A3 is all about focusing deeply on the problems, and then thoughtfully shifting to the repair. My use didn’t work at all. We probably could have done fishbone to identify the burstlike ‘problems’ to dig into with the 5 Whys.

I think if we’d had better wording at the problem identification step, the ‘5 Whys’ would have been smoother and more useful.

Trying to get 7 people with no A3 experience to try and write a problem statement together was a disaster. What if the team were given the problem statement and asked to confirm it based on observations from earlier in the day?

I liked the drawing that they did; on a whole I think the 3 Actuals phase worked really well. Two folks confirmed the steps that we’d identified during a previous session, 2 identified wastes, 3 more drew (one pacer style, the other two just capturing process)

4/20/09 – Facilitation of General Surgery / Transplant patient handoff A3

I didn’t feel particularly good about this facilitation, but I received compliments and positive feedback. I think, maybe I sensed some struggling on behalf of the group that I assumed to be caused by my facilitation. Perhaps they struggled a bit because it was a challenging topic, not because of poor facilitation. I see that the two are different: just because they struggle doesn’t mean it’s because of the facilitation. Now I need to work on identifying one from the other.

I also felt uncomfortable because I wasn’t personally clear on the process. I’ve never witnessed it, and I don’t really know the players directly involved. Since I’m not expected to be a content expert, I think that’s mostly okay; it is more difficult to keep up with the discussion if the content is completely (or even somewhat) new.

I’m also unfamiliar with facilitating a group through A3 completion. With that, I’m generally unclear on how groups and A3’s go together. I’m most comfortable coaching individuals through A3 Problem Solving, and having them go and talk to other interested parties. It makes sense to bring people in and to make it directly collaborative; mostly I’m still getting familiar with the pieces and how they can fit together.

4/23/09

I also need to focus on keeping the energy up when I’m facilitating. With my hubish nature, I often use the group’s energy to get me going; that can’t be counted on, especially when I’m with other mellow or hubish folks.

How can I do that? Experience will help, knowing the content helps, knowing what to do with the content also helps. If I don’t have to use bandwidth to think about that, I’m freer to crank up my volume.

Seattle Children's Faces Budget Cuts

2009-04-02T17:10:00.000-07:00

The recession is getting close to home.

If the state budget continues as is, or even as close-to-is, Seattle Children's will face a $60 million budget deficit as result of state Medicaid cuts. That means programs will have to be cut. That means children with certain types of illnesses won't receive care from Children's.

To summarize a fraction of the problem,

Children’s CEO Dr. Tom Hansen says the proposed cuts don’t make financial sense.

"The budget cuts $60 million from Children’s Hospital to save the State only $25 million," he told a news conference in Olympia. "$35 million of this cut is federal Medicaid matching funds that will be lost; turned back to the federal government."

This is, I suppose, one of the prices of being an independent non-profit who serves patients and families who otherwise might not be able to pay.

On a personal level, there is some risk that I might be laid off; there is near certainty that people I've known for years will be laid off.

Star Trek / A-Team

2009-04-01T17:55:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyfhzqhJNbg

Mercer Island Half Marathon

2009-03-28T18:09:00.000-07:00

Last week I had a fabulous run on Mercer Island. Here are the results:

Mercer Island Rotary Half Marathon
Half Marathon Run
March 22, 2009 in Mercer Island, WA
Summary
Number of Finishers: 1,619
Number of Females: 799
Number of Males: 820
Average Time: 1:59:12
Chad Blanchard
bib number: 55
age: 35
gender: M
location: Seattle, WA
overall place: 160 out of 1620
division place: 31 out of 180
gender place: 132
time: 1:35:59
pace: 7:15
chip time: 1:35:01

I'm proud; that's my best run ever. I ran strong throughout and surpassed my own goals.

Official photography is by brightroom, and is, as usual for these things, vastly overpriced. There are a couple good ones of me in my endorphin haze, but I don't plan to splurge on the official versions.

Fonts

2009-03-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

I've developed an eye for fonts, and it's a blessing and a curse. I'm not a giant fan of Arial, but it's reasonable enough. Mostly it's a Helvetica rip-off, and there's nothing wrong with Helvetica.

I want to like Georgia, but the spacing isn't quite right, and the C and h of my name kinda run together.

My favorite font is Gotham, which is probably best known for its use on the Obama campaign materials; it's also the new official font for the Seattle Children's logo.

Now, whenever I walk (or ride) down the street, I see how many different fonts we're surrounded by. Many are bolded, italicized, some logos are a mixture of different fonts; many are pure ugly, many clash with each other. Some are exceptionally cold and inhuman. That's the cure. The blessing is that I've learned to see another layer in the world. Most of us never even think about fonts, let alone notice and admire them. Yet, they stare us in the face, almost constantly.

I'm going to go and stare at the Gotham font some more. It calms me, like a beer and a sunset.

Battlestar Galactica Props 13

2009-03-11T13:44:00.001-07:00

Battlestar Galactica Props 13
Originally uploaded by modernkutuzov

Look what I got! Many of the props from the series are for sale on ebay, and I snagged a couple! It was just in time, too. Now that the cat's been racking up some vet bills, I probably couldn't afford them now!

Police Activity 10

2009-03-01T13:44:00.001-08:00

Police Activity 10
Originally uploaded by modernkutuzov

I wonder who he was talking to... the suspect(s) mother, perhaps? It would be cool if the whole thing was drug related and they were setting up a 'deal.'

Police Activity 8

2009-03-01T13:42:00.001-08:00

Police Activity 8
Originally uploaded by modernkutuzov

The officers spent some time with the cel phone. I'm not sure if it rang first, or if they were calling out to someone.

Police Activity 7

2009-03-01T13:41:00.003-08:00

Police Activity 7
Originally uploaded by modernkutuzov

They searched the car and found a few things.

Police Activity 6

2009-03-01T13:41:00.001-08:00

Police Activity 6
Originally uploaded by modernkutuzov

They kept the street closed to cars for quite awhile. Here, you see the officer telling someone to go around the block.

Police Activity 4

2009-03-01T13:40:00.001-08:00

Police Activity 4
Originally uploaded by modernkutuzov

The cops came back several minutes later. By their affect, I presume the bad guys were in custody.

Police Activity 3

2009-03-01T13:39:00.003-08:00

Police Activity 3
Originally uploaded by modernkutuzov

The empty police car. It was still running too.

Police Activity 3

2009-03-01T13:39:00.001-08:00

Police Activity 3
Originally uploaded by modernkutuzov

The empty police car. It was still running too.

Police Activity 2

2009-03-01T13:38:00.003-08:00

Police Activity 2
Originally uploaded by modernkutuzov

A close-up of the empty car, presumably belonging to the suspect(s)

Police Activity 1

2009-03-01T13:38:00.001-08:00

Police Activity 1
Originally uploaded by modernkutuzov

We had some excitement in the neighborhood yesterday. I looked out the window to see this. The silver and black car was empty, and the door on the passenger side was still open.

They also left the stereo on.

Significant Influences

2009-02-26T12:38:00.000-08:00

These are some of the thinkers who have most notably helped shape the way I see the world:

Friedrich Nietzsche – the noble man defines his own values.
The Buddha, especially The Eightfold Path, but also the Four Noble Truths
Jesus Christ – especially the Lord’s Prayer and his overall message of compassion along with many more details that I won’t go into right now.
Robert E Howard, specifically through Conan the Barbarian
Lao-Tsu – The Tao Te Ch’ing
Fyodor Dostoyevsky – Brothers Karamazov
John Shelby Spong – Christian Atheism makes sense and best describes me.
Dan Savage – yes, the sex advice columnist.

Lessons from the First Adventure

2009-02-23T09:55:00.000-08:00

The group didn’t quite get what I was trying to do with the round robin, ‘what is the first story of your character,’ but that’s okay. They wound up creating a single shared ‘how they met’ story for themselves, which is still superior to making me engineer a ‘how the group met’ adventure.

I launched quickly into a skill challenge; I knew this would be tricky since it’s a new mechanic to pretty much everyone at the table. I wanted to introduce the concept because I think it has great potential if we can get better at it. DM’s need to design and execute them well, and players need to problem solve using their characters skills. All in all, I was pleased with the outcome. They missed an opportunity to interact with NPC’s which then made the rest of the challenge kinda boring. I realize now I need to be a little more clear about making their options visible.

I should have read up on the monsters a bit more, and thought their tactics out a little in advance. It worked out fine, but would have been smoother and quicker, with less book flipping if I had done that. I think I will continue using the cards for all quick reference information; at least this keeps everything in one place. It does create flipping through the cards, but my hypothesis is that this is outweighed by the certainty of all info in one place.

I must admit that it’s delicious to frustrate the players a little by making the mobs sneaky and by zapping the player characters with hindering affects. It’s also fun to bloody the PC’s and to knock them down sometimes.

I’m Still in Love with President Obama

2009-02-20T14:26:00.000-08:00

Content: So far, President Obama is running the perfect presidency. He made genuine, good faith efforts to involve the Republican party in the stimulus package, he has initiated plans to close Guantanamo and immediately put a halt to the prosecutions happening there , he is allowing us to see where our billions will go through unheard of transparency . There have been a few missteps, notably with some of his cabinet choices, but what manager hasn’t made a bad hire or two in his time? He has even put a stop to the traditional sketchy accounting practices that have made the deficient appear smaller.

I even like that he holds (so far) regular cocktail gatherings at the White House. This is my president.

I’m still worried, mind you. Unemployment continues to grow, Washington State has a large budget deficit, transit is threatened, Afghanistan is still in deep trouble (and if the fragile situation in Iraq regresses… but let’s hope the positive trends there continue) and North Korea has plans to test rockets. I know it’s only been a month, but I sure hope we get some real, solid wins

Audible

2009-02-19T14:12:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I started a trial subscription with Audible.com. I’ve been an avid podcast listener for two years, and felt the need for something more substantial. There are many more interesting books out there than I have time to read; if I can lever my running and commuting time to digging through some of them, that would be groovy.

I majored in English and am a bit of a failed novelist, so I appreciate reading. Reading and listening are different activities; on the other hand, isn’t it better to listen to some content than to never experience it at all?

The first book I downloaded was John Shelby Spong’s Jesus for the Non-Religious. I’ve been a fan of Spong for over ten years, but hadn’t kept up on his recent work. I wanted to avoid fiction for my first audio-book experience. I strikes me as more important to see the printed word when it comes to fiction. Non-fiction tends to be the transmission of facts, which seems to lend it more toward the audio format.

On a whole, it’s worked well. The content is generally interesting, and it doesn’t matter much if I miss a paragraph or two. His style is that of most essayists. He tells me what he’s going to tell me, he tells me, then he tells me what he told me. Additionally, there are summaries of what he told me in previous chapters and intends to tell me in later ones. There have been a few dry bits that barely held my attention, and that can be a problem. Sometimes I like to flip through chapters initially, to see what’s coming (remember Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review or SQRRR?), and that’s impossible with audio-books. Instead, you’re locked in the fairly interminable march forward, through the work, at the pace of the reader. Yes, you could loop backward or forward if you wanted; iPod technology certainly allows for that.

On a whole, it’s been a good experience. Next, I’ll probably choose a biography or some low intensity science fiction. Maybe a Star Wars expanded universe novel, or a biography about Tom Petty… I also would bet that smut, er… ‘erotica’ would be entertaining in this format.

Reflections on Stranger in a Strange Land

2009-02-13T15:58:00.001-08:00

I first encountered this book at the tail end of my Heinlein phase, in 1994. This was also the beginning of my first stab at becoming a science fiction novelist, and, I realize now, that terrible book that I wrote was more than a little influenced by this work. I also realize that Heinlein uses some tricky narrative styles that probably confused me. For example, he switches tenses and person a time or two. It works for him, but as a very new, not very good writer, it was not something I should have been fooling with.

As science fiction, it holds up in many ways; in other ways, less so. The hard science is not very interesting. There’s nothing terribly innovative about the one world government, the flying, automated cars, or the video and audio tapes that appear occasionally. On the other hand, Mars and its inhabitants are fairly interesting. Good thing too, since the relationship between human and Martian drives the entire novel.

What I found to be most interesting and most disappointing was the social commentary. The book makes it clear that Heinlein enjoys and has great affection for women. It also strongly suggests a line of deep sexism in his thinking. Even the more central women are cast as purely supporting characters. They are intelligent, attractive and varied; yet all the really important actions and decisions are left to the male characters.

I deeply appreciate the concept of Water Brother as portrayed here. Of course, it reflects an idealized circle of friends. Since I don’t live in an idealized world, it breaks down when applied to my reality. For example, in this novel’s concept, the circle of water brothers is ever inclusive, and water brothers are always trusted to be wise in their inclusion of new members. In my life, I surely have close friends analogous to Michael Smith (The Man from Mars)’s water brothers; yet, these friends occasionally have close friends who I would not choose to associate with, let along ‘share water’ with.

Heinlein’s view of human sexuality is also compelling. These characters are polyamorous (though the word hadn’t been invented yet), have multiple partners, and yet, they are not at all licentious. All of their sex is a means for ‘growing closer.’ In some ways this makes it simultaneously more and less casual than sex is commonly experienced in our culture.

There’s also a nice bit about good kissing. The best kisses are those in which those involved are focused on the experience itself, and are not concerned about the before and after.

Susie Bright

2009-02-08T08:24:00.000-08:00

You have to love Susie Bright. While I have some of her books around, I'd never seen her speak before.

Root Causes of Disharmony

2009-02-04T15:10:00.000-08:00

Lately I’ve been blending my interest in ‘harmony’ with my professional focus of root cause analyses. In my life right now, I know disharmony when I see it. I especially know it within myself. If something is stuck in my craw, it can take some contemplative digging to determine what I’m cranked about. Usually whatever I’m cranked about isn’t the root cause.

This has brought to light at least one emotional dilemma that I must navigate: I despise and get very stressed when I’m stuck in a bad plan – disharmony! – so I tend to at least review plans as their devised. As a result, I wind up making a lot of plans; normally I don’t mind, and I generally find it satisfying. It is, however, an additional responsibility, which brings its own stress - and… disharmony!

Identifying this bind is already a great start: it’s obvious that in any given situation, I have to either embrace the planning and coordination, or enjoy the relative lack of responsibility. I do appreciate when a strong, knowledgeable and coordinated leader steps up and makes a plan that I can, at least, live with.

Long Weekend

2009-02-03T12:28:00.000-08:00

I’ve posted some pictures to Facebook, and lots more to Flickr. If I know you, and you want to see them, let me know.

Travel:

I got a speeding ticket just outside of Ritzville. The officer was very polite; I didn’t try to explain anything. I knew I was guilty, I knew he’d caught me. On a whole, the experience was pleasant enough, aside from the bill at the end.

It snowed while we were at the birthday / Super Bowl party, which added some adventure for the five mile drive back to Colville. I got to practice my snow skills, and realized that my motorcycle experience has helped develop my sense of angles and friction. I had to double back at one point, because I slide through the intersection I was supposed to turn at. Overall, it wasn’t a sweat though.

The lingering snow kept me cautious from Colville to Spokane, but didn’t hinder much. It probably did contribute, however, to a hole in my rental car’s tire. The car had a little light that warned me of low tire pressure, and I heard the hissing when I stopped for supplies.

As we’ve all probably noticed, pay phones are becoming rare; what’s even rarer are phone books. It was easy to get instructions with a phone call or two, but 411 left me on hold for quite awhile, and I was very much at their mercy. Then I had to call the tire place for directions. All while the air continued to hiss out of the tire. I did kind of wish I had a more advanced cel phone. Google Maps sure would have been handy.

Gaming:

We played a very odd and super fun game of BSG. Humans won, and the player with Tom Zarek was President, Admiral and the only human not in the brig at the game’s end. If the Cylon player had been more familiar with the game, the outcome may have changed. I am sure, however, that my strategy of early jumps, with dice adjusting cards, and Helo’s re-roll ability is the key to success. The game took nearly four hours; I think it could take less time with all experienced players. It always takes four hours with newbies though.

The next night we played a hand of Space Munchkin. This game took about an hour and was also lots of fun.

Alcohol:

We went out for beers and dinner the first night, but then pretty much quit drinking. Even though we were up late, no one suffered from a hangover, and no one was really ‘drunk.’ We didn’t have any alcohol at the Super Bowl / Birthday Party. While I can hardly imagine not drinking for my birthday, our fun was not at all impinged. After all, there was a puppy... and football. How we’ve changed…

Duration:
Two nights and two days seem just about right. I would have liked a few more hours on that first day, but I had to get my long run in, and the travel (see above) takes several hours.

Barack Hussein Obama

2009-01-26T12:01:00.000-08:00

I'm a little embarrased to admit that I didn't understand that President Obama's middle name really was 'Hussein' until last week. I thought it was a ploy by some right wing nutjobs to try and discredit him, similar to the "Obama is a Muslim Extremist" rumors.

Harmony

2009-01-26T12:00:00.000-08:00

Again the topic of harmony is on my mind. I’m re-reading Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, and one of the differences between Martians and Humans is the Martian inability to endure disharmony. They ‘discorporate’ at the sort of argument some of us have daily. That started my mind down the path.

The harmony I seek, both professionally and personally, is very much like a dance. Dance partners become good and great dance partners through the practice and education. Both know the moves, they learn each other, and they gain an ability to adjust to the real world challenges of the dance floor. The lead has the advantage of knowing what’s coming and the added responsibility of deciding what’s next while executing the current steps. The follow is allowed to focus on the now, but often doesn’t know what’s next. In the case of dancing, the follow must also dance backwards, often in heels.

In my work I often focus on root causes. There’s no point in mopping the wet floor if the leaky pipe isn’t fixed. It occurred to me that most of my own emotional disruptions and are symptoms of disharmony. Often the disharmony is a gap between the world I desire and the world as it is. For example, before I shifted jobs, I was often frustrated by how long it took and by what I perceived as a lack of progress. Another example that no doubt is common in the human experience is the desire to spend more focused time with people I care about. One great advantage of being happily married and living with one’s spouse is this disharmony is relatively easy to fix or avoid with at least one valued relationship. – as an aside, I imagine for many couples, that is enough. We’ve all seen the pairings who drop out of social circles after they’ve found one another.

It’s also frequent that the disharmony is a concern for losing something in my current life that I’m attached to.

I had a lot more to say about this, but I’ve lost the mental thread for now...

Personality Test - INTJ

2009-01-25T09:47:00.000-08:00

I just took an internet version of the Meyers Briggs. It says I'm an INTJ: Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Judging

From what I've read, it seems to fit pretty well. Yep, I'm a systems thinker, have had to learn to express my vulnerabilities, and I'm not great at that even now.

I'm better at small social niceities than most INTJ's; I scored somewhat balanced on the Introvert / Extrovert scale, and especially balanced on the Thinking / Feeling scale.

Volunteerism

2009-01-21T16:46:00.000-08:00

Our new president has me thinking about volunteering.

I know I'll have to be kinda picky or else I won't have fun and I won't stick with it. What follows is just the beginning of my considerations:

What I don’t want to do:

Volunteer for my employer
Sort (or do anything with) children’s clothes
Dispense juice and cookies to blood donors
Cold call anyone
Go door to door

What I want

I want to do something fun, or something mundane with fun people
I want it to feel meaningful
I don’t want to get stressed out in that ‘bad stress’ way

Bonus:

I can use and improve my professional skills along the way

Charities or Non-profits I’m Interested In

Northwest Harvest
ACLU
Democratic Party
Planned Parenthood

University Honda/Yamaha Closes?!

2009-01-16T16:33:00.000-08:00

According to the Seattle PI and to the company's own website, University Honda on Capital Hill, has gone out of business.

Not only did I purchase all of my gear (helmet, jacket, pants, two pairs of gloves and some miscellaneous other stuff) there, they did the maintenance on my bike last year. I fully planned to go back when my mileage hits 4,000. I was always treated well there.

It's also going to be damned inconvenient to go anywhere else. Hopefully this will open the way for some new motorcycle business to move to the Hill; really though, I don't want a new one. I want my old motorcycle shop back.

Fiscal Conservatism?

2009-01-16T09:30:00.000-08:00

Does anyone else get the sense that the fiscal conservatives have all retreated into hiding? I don’t understand the nuances of all these bailouts, but I do know that the federal government is borrowing a lot of money and giving it to companies in crisis. So far, I have little faith that an injection of cash is all these folks need to right their ships, and the distribution of cash has, as yet, included little in the way of governmental oversight.

How are we going to pay for this? Is throwing money at our problems going to pull us out of this recession?

The other problem I have is that I don’t really understand what we’re getting for our money. I understand President-elect Obama has public works projects planned, and that’s grand. What are we getting for the $350 billion already distributed? I understand that it’s supposed to strengthen our banking system, blah blah; that’s not much to hold onto though. It’s a little abstract for me, and it feels like we’re throwing that money into a pit. And in that pit is an ancient cash eating dragon.

Some Libertarian voices have questioned the constitutionality of November’s bailout, and I guess that’s something. Normally the only thing the Republican Party is good for is keeping the recurrent liberal impulse to throw money at problems in check. I don’t see that tension right now, and I’m concerned.

BSG, the Obsession

2009-01-15T14:42:00.001-08:00

I’ve slipped into a Battlestar Galactica related frenzy. Part of me regrets ordering season 4.0 from Amazon; they weren’t delivered until Monday. That left me five precious evenings to rewatch those episodes before the second half of the final season kicks off Friday night at 10 p.m.. Unfortunately, Monday is also my D&D night: no watching that night. I also have plans Friday evening right up to premiere, and we have a friend coming to dinner tonight. These are all good things mind you; the unfortunate part is the synchronicity of it all. The reality is, I won’t make it through them all in time, and that’s okay. I feel worse for the first time viewers I know who are trying to make it through ten episodes in order to synch up with the rest of us for the series’s final push.

I also picked up the BSG soundtracks that were missing from my collection; they all now live happily in my iPod. We also have a some folks coming over to play the board game (of which I’ve written previously) on Saturday – let me tell you, trying to fill up all six slots for that game is trickier than it sounds. I have a long list of folks who have expressed clear interest, but I can’t invite them all. I only have the one board. Naturally, I’ve received a handful of varying degrees of ‘tenatively yes’ responses as well. Juggling all this reminds me of trying to staff a restaurant or something. It’s all very complicated.

As I re-watch the first half of season four over a short amount of time, I’m reminded of Return of the King. Both have a lot of ground to cover in a relatively short amount of time. Neither is prepared to hold anything back when it’s all said and done. This leads to fluid storytelling that drifts from the kind of focused narrative we’ve come to expect. While each episode does have a beginning middle and end, one leads directly into the next. None are truly self contained.

This all works better when you watch them consecutively, with little break in between.

I also realize now that I may have been a little drunk during my first viewing: the accompanying whiskey is part of the experience for me. Trying to keep up with Tigh or Adama has gotten me into trouble before... (well, the red wine I had with dinner earlier that evening also had something to do with it).

It also occurred to me that I’m every bit as obsessed with BSG now as I was with Star Wars from 1979 to 1995, or Twin Peaks from ’95ish – ’97ish (that was an all video experience). It’s fun!

Hawk on Fence, adendum

2009-01-12T12:44:00.003-08:00

The hawk I saw on my fence is a Cooper's Hawk, my father informed me. He knows a lot about wildlife.

Ideas Buzzing

2009-01-12T12:42:00.000-08:00

It’s been a weird time in Seattle. Building in the background is the ongoing financial crisis (when can we declare a moratorium on the phrase, “in this financial climate”?), and an ongoing gang war between some South Seattle and Central Seattle gangs. Shootings have become frequent, some within blocks of our home. Then came two full weeks of snowy, city paralyzing weather, followed by flooding. This flooding was serious enough to close off all major land routes into the region and disrupted supply chains.

Piercing
Pain was comparable to the novocain injection during wisdom teeth removal (by the way, if the injections to prevent the ‘actual’ pain hurt that much, how painful must the tooth removal be?)
The piercer had a very professional and mellow affect. He was exactly the sort of person I hoped for.
The bleeding seems to have stopped; I don’t see any other oozing; so far, so good! It’s still tender, though.
My perspective on bacteria has changed; I’m very aware of cleanliness when it comes to the area near my piercing now. I don’t want an infection!

D&D 4th Edition Character Concept – built around chain weapon (flail) which has ‘reach’ property. I’m thinking warlord, to focus on keeping control of adversaries, preferably staying out of melee range, and adding entanglement, if possible. There must be entanglement rules in there somewhere.
The idea is inspired by the Uncanny X-Men comic from 20 yearsish ago when the Reavers ambushed Wolverine in Australia. They defeated him by staying at range with bolos and chain weapons. This concept may work better with a fighter. I plan to get the Martial Powers book soon to help sort it out and to give me new, fun ideas. I see that Clerics also have the ability to push baddies around, and have some advantages with flails. It occurs to me that there are probably several workable characters behind this concept.

Jazz Singer – the old version – shot when blackface was normal! Interesting how the version from the 80’s with Neil Diamond had its own, very different blackface scene.

Hawk on Fence

2009-01-04T12:04:00.001-08:00

Hawk on Fence
Originally uploaded by modernkutuzov

This hawk appeared briefly this morning. I wonder what it is.

Major Goal Achieved

2009-01-04T08:21:00.001-08:00

As of January 2nd, 2009, I became officially and completely 'bad debt' free. We still have a mortgage (well, technically two mortgages)... I've carried a balance of some kind for... well, my student loans started racking up in the fall of '94.

It looks like I made a math error and I have a $50 credit on my personal line of credit.

First Activity of 2009

2009-01-01T09:33:00.000-08:00

For my first notable activity of 2009 (aside from feeding the cat, making coffee, surfing the internet and tidying up from last night's party), I arranged appropriate transfers to pay off the last of my credit card debt.

2008 Round-up

2008-12-31T11:11:00.000-08:00

10 years at Children’s – from long haired, bearded part time temp, to buzz headed, tie wearing consultant.

Marathon training – I didn’t admit that I was training for the marathon until nearly the summer, but I started running to my schedule in March. I kept to it, and only missed a few days over those eight months. Prior to this, I had never run eight miles before.

Trip to Denver – I think this was the first time we’d spent an entire night apart since our wedding. Since then there have been a few other sleeping apart occasions, such as:

K’s 40th birthday / N to Baltimore

WoW – I quit around the time that N started raiding. I would not have predicted this two years ago, or even at the beginning of the year.

Colville / Northport – We stayed at Benny’s in Colville for a few days and then the Bed and Breakfast run by Art and Nina in Northport. It was a truly amazing week.

D&D 4e & group – I was one of many to return to the game with the release of the 4th edition. I soon found a solid group and continue to play weekly.

BSG – Season 4.0 and board game. On a related note, I’ve made a project of converting my friends to gamers and intermingling gamer friends with non-gamer friends.

More motorcycle – sometime during the year I realized that I’m not as freaked out by riding on dark, rainy, trafficy nights.

Sports in Seattle – The Mariners were the first team to lose over 100 games while spending over 100 million on payroll. The Sonics moved to Oklahoma City. The Seahawks and Huskies lost 12 games each. While I don’t care about Cougar football, it’s worth mentioning that they lost 10 games.

Growing friendships – It’s been a good year for making new friends and further developing older relationships. Examples include B (& J), L, M and probably T. At the same time, other friendships have faded.

Isolde’s decline and death – this was a sad and difficult time.

N starts bicycling – it looks like her new bike won’t arrive until 2009, but she took her borrowed bicycle to work many times during the summer.

New job – Hurray!

Halloween – dressed up & went out!

N’s Dad’s illness – we were particularly worried about N’s Dad there for a few weeks. He seems to be back on the upswing now and is at home again after a lengthy stay inpatient and in rehab.

Thanksgiving with N's Mom and N's Mom's husband– our first time hosting a major holiday!

Marathon – 3:47:27!

Snow! We spent a lot of time cooped up in the house, but it was kinda nice to laze around during the Christmas week.

Fifteen Years Ago

2008-12-25T22:17:00.000-08:00

Fifteen years ago, I was in Mogadishu Somalia. Christmas dinner was underwhelming (Thanksgiving was much better, probably because we were several miles closer to the kitchen then), and my tank broke its track while turning to avoid a camel. That was a hassel.

This year was immeasurably better, even though I lost at Scrabble and we're pooping out early. But then, for someone to win, someone else has to lose, and I think pooping out early on Christmas is pretty normal.

There's frequently, if not always an odd wind down there. After the gifts and food, the holiday energy is usually expended. People usually drag themselves home in the early evening with nothing much to do for the rest of the night.

Snow and Wii in Seattle

2008-12-24T14:28:00.000-08:00

For the most part, discussing Seattle's series of snow storms has started to bore me to death, so I won't go in to much detail here.

I'm cat sitting for a few days, and this has given me a mission every day. Rather than sitting here and going stir crazy, I've put on my snow boots and jogged the 2.8 miles up to my friend's house, fed his cat, played his Wii and then jogged home. It's been a nifty work-out. Since I'm not 'in training' for any big upcoming events, I don't mind the variety.

Yesterday I played some Rock-Band. I particularly focused on the drums, and now I understand a little better what it takes to be a talented drummer. It is very rewarding to play drums for the Rolling Stones. Another benefit of the game is that you learn the songs in a way that non-musicians rarely manage. I'm familiar with some of the transitions to Gimme Shelter now!

Today, I focused on Resident Evil 4. Like Rock Band, I'd never played any of the franchise before, let alone on the Wii. It was definitely a rewarding experience. Like before, the learning curve was notable.

I had been under the opinion that the Hi-Def TV should come before the next gen game system on our luxury purchases. That may be true, but having just played the Wii on a normal TV, I'm not sure. More reflection is required.

BSG the Board Game; Humans Win!

2008-12-22T07:16:00.000-08:00

My wife and I played The Game again on Saturday, and I have a few observations.

The playing time is listed as 2 - 3 hours. So far, I don't think we've finished in anything less than 4 hours. Our playing times have probably been stretched for two reasons: we're all still negotiating the learning curve, and every game has included at least one new person. Similarly, we're still working out the best strategy for both humans and Cylons. Thus, games take longer as we flail around trying to kill each other.

Again, the Cylons nearly manged to get all the humans into the brig. This time, there were two humans, one cylon and one cylon sympathizer. The unrevealed cylon was loaded with skill cards and nearly pulled it off. I was playing Bill Adama, and even as I saw it happening, I couldn't even try to put him in the brig via the Admiral's quarters. Instead, I managed to grab the presidency (through sheer luck of a crisis card), and found the Quorum card that allowed me to imprison the 'unrevealed' cylon. The Quorum deck also allowed me to release my cohort so I didn't have to lead the fleet alone.

On reflection, I think the unrevealed Cylon player's strategy was valid, and came damned close to working.

The fleet also jumped early several times. This underscores the fact that humnas must use the 'add 2 to dice roll' cards on all important die rolls. We lost 3 population at least once, but we also caught a break at least once, which allowed us to keep jumping. I also used the 'Motivational Speech' Quorum card in conjunction with the +2 roll card at a crucial point. We had 1 motivation and 1 fuel at the time, near the end of the game, and would have later lost.

The last thing that helped us win was the not particularly focused strategy by the revealed Cylon at the end. Had he focused on getting the Centurian boarding party to the end of the track, again, I think we would have lost. Instead, he barraged the Galactica with the basestars.

We're all looking forward to play with more experienced players. Can the humans win throughthe optimal play of equally experienced players?

Seahawks Beat the Jets

2008-12-21T18:44:00.000-08:00

This game felt special in several ways, for one main reason: this is Coach Mike Holmgren's last home game as head coach for the Seattle Seahawks. It also happened to be against Brett Favre, former protege of Holmgren's. It also happened to snow throughout.

The players wanted the win; the defense played very well. Seneca Wallace ran the offense efficiently and played a tight game. Yes, he could probably start in this league. I don't know that he would ever be a great starter, but he's at least in that John Kitna / Trent Dilfer range of competant professional quarterback. Plus he's more athletic than either of those guys, which gives him a definite edge.

Anyway, it felt good to have an important game to watch. It was great to have your team play well for an important game. And, quite importantly, it was great to win that game.

I'm not ashamed to say I was crying (yep, tears flowed) as Coach Holmgren took his walk around the stadium; thousands of us stood and waved or applauded.

This is the sort of experience that makes me treasure my season tickets, even during a 4 - 11 season.

Photo Credit

2008-12-13T08:13:00.000-08:00

Schmap.com found one of my pictures on Flickr from our 2006 honeymoon in Maui and asked to use it for for their travel guide. See the Napili Point entry.

Christmas Prep 2008

2008-12-11T15:23:00.000-08:00

Every year I have some trouble or other getting everything done for the holidays. In addition to the challenges shared by every other gift exchanging person, both of my parents have birthdays within weeks of Christmas. My mother was born on December 8th, my father on January 6th. As a result, I barely get through Thanksgiving and I need to get her card and gift mailed; just after New Year’s I have to gear up for my Dad’s.

One major piece of best practice is to take a day off early during December, and use that to get the majority of planning and shopping complete. Since that allowed me to finish nearly everything, my stress level is lower, and I’m free to enjoy the next few weeks.

For the first time, Nora and I set an explicit dollar limit for our gift exchange; that helped too. Now, I don’t need to wonder if I’ve done enough.

I’m actually looking forward to getting a tree. That doesn’t happen every year.

Marathon Emotions

2008-12-05T12:53:00.000-08:00

Running 26.2 miles is, on a whole, an emotional experience. It started half an hour before the race as I looked out across Memorial Stadium, and my mind drifted forward to the finish.

There were many more moments; since I tend toward the emotional in situations like this, when people lay it all out, give it their all, while others cheer for these, their temporary heroes.

During a long run, you have to be careful. The energy burst from a wave of emotion can drive you up and over the steepest hill, but it will also bury you if you let it. Trust me on this: I lived it during my 21 mile prep run two months ago.

The tallest roller-coaster high came around mile 17. I was fully in the long distance fragile haze of ups and downs, and had recently (a mile and a half prior) seen a friend while listening to “Flying High Now.”

Anyway, it was a period with a moderate number of spectators, and a mom had her four(ish) young kids lined up, watching the race. They were very interested; she coached them all to hold our their hands for high-fives. Excited, I angled over, smiled and delivered high-fives. I was careful to hit all their hands: it wouldn’t do to miss one, not at all.

A moment after, the “Stone Cold” Steve Austin kicked in; another moment later, I had tears flowing down my face, and I angled to the middle of the road, away from other spectators. It was too intense for me, I couldn’t be anyone else’s hero that day.

I don’t think I can properly express how honored I was to have four little fans who cared enough to get high-fives. I wonder if this is something they’ll talk about, or if they’ll even remember. Somehow, I don’t think that matters.

Seattle Marathon Pictures

2008-12-04T11:02:00.001-08:00

More at http://chadsmarathon2008.shutterfly.com/

Quick Marathon Summary

2008-11-30T16:02:00.001-08:00

I hope to write more later, below, I'll paste my twitters of the day. My race time was 3:47:27.

Home now, and bathed. I probably won't wear clothes for the rest of the day. This robe is comfy. Need to eat soon. My chip time: 3:47:00 about 1 hour ago from web
Finished! about 4 hours ago from txt
Mile 20! about 5 hours ago from txt
18 done 8 left about 5 hours ago from txt
Half way! about 6 hours ago from txt
Off we go! about 8 hours ago from txt
Clothes checked. Now to find start. about 8 hours ago from txt
Arrived Seattle Center about 8 hours ago from txt
Freaking out a little. In a good way. about 8 hours ago from txt
Buses work. Good start too day. about 9 hours ago from txt
Been through the checklist twice; nearly ready to leave. about 9 hours ago from web
I slept reasonably well last night; now I'm up having coffee before the final preparations. about 10 hours ago from web

Marathon Prep

2008-11-28T14:38:00.000-08:00

I picked up my chip and whatnot today. The marathon is Sunday. I'll send brief twitters along the way, specifically at the start, mid-point and 18 mile mark. My username is modernkutuzov

I need to remember all the important things:

band-aides on nipples
Buckaroo Banzai hat
special socks
running shoes
utility belt
bottle with 1/3 Powerade, 2/3 water
ID
House key
cel phone (charged)
iPod (charged)
earphones
iPod armband
boxer-briefs
non-bunching running shorts
long sleeved, synthetic running shirt
cash (enough for cab fare home)
the chip
stocking hat (for before and after, weather dependant)
sweatshirt (ditto)
the bag to put those in
watch

The itinerary there follows:

Walk 0.2 mile SW from S SPOKANE ST to
Depart	Rainier Ave S & 33rd Ave S	At 06:54 AM	On Route MT 7 Downtown Seattle
Arrive	Rainier Ave S & S Walker St	At 06:58 AM
Transfer to
Depart	Rainier Ave S & S Walker St	At 07:08 AM	On Route MT 4 Downtown Seattle
Arrive	5th Ave N & Republican St	At 07:38 AM
Walk 0.1 mile S to MEMORIAL STADIUM

The race starts at 8:15 a.m.

My first goal is to finish
second goal is to finish in less than four hours
third goal is to finish under 3:41

My training pace has been right around eight minute miles, creeping up to 8 1/2 and over for long runs of 10 miles or more.

Battlestar Galactica, the Board Game

2008-11-24T13:30:00.000-08:00

I first caught sight of the Battlestar Galactica Board game at the Fantasy Flight Games booth during PAX. I kibitzed for awhile, wandered the hall awhile, then checked back; the table was still full, so I wandered some more, and returned again. This time, a game was wrapping up, so I was able to reserve my spot for the next round.

By the end of the hour long demo, I’d fallen in love. Unfortunately, aside from about 300 copies between Gen-Con and PAX, the game hadn’t really been released yet. October, they said.

October came, I asked my game shop to hold a copy for me, but the game didn’t arrive. I even scheduled a party with some of my closest friends for mid November.

Finally, on November 11th (Veteran’s Day), four days before my party, the Fantasy Flight website announced the game’s release. I called my normal game shop: no luck. Their games arrive on Friday. That was okay, I thought. The party was scheduled for Saturday.

I stopped in on Friday, and they hadn’t received the game: it was looking bleak for Saturday’s event. We might wind up playing Munchkin, I thought.

I hadn’t quite given up home, however, and earlyish Saturday, I got my phone, sat down at the computer, and started calling game stores. I’d already scouted Borders and Barnes and Noble; both had board games, but neither could help me.

Immediately, I struck gold: Gary’s Games in Greenwood had a copy. Yes, she would hold it, yes it may be the last copy. Please bring cash because our machine is broken.

After a few stop hunt to find some soundtrack accompaniment (I’d resisted the day prior because of the theme’s uncertainty), I returned home around 3 p.m.; I had just enough time to glance at the rules before guests started to arrive.

The game has many elements and can be confusing to new players. No single element is particularly complex, and for the most part, a player doesn’t need to know the details of each piece.

Early in our inaugural game, we discovered the first Cylon. That’s when it started getting good. We had strong suspicions about the second, but had some trouble getting her into the brig. She proclaimed her innocence, but then, any sleeper Cylon would plead innocent.

With both suspected Cylons (Baltar and Helo) in the brig, we reached the half way point; by rule Boomer was sent to the brig. Otherwise, space was quiet; unfortunately we weren’t spooling our FTL very quickly, but we saw no cause for alarm.

We freed Boomer, and by a twist of fate, Tyrol was thereafter imprisoned. That’s when the dirty Cylon spy struck: it was Boomer, and we had freed her. Through her dirty machinations, my character, Saul Tigh (the commander of the fleet) was imprisoned as well. At this point, every character aboard Galactica was in the brig. Lucky for us, Laura Roslin was on Colonial One. Helo was righteously indignant.

Even though I was on the wrong end of it, this was a moment of pure gaming beauty. My team, the human team, thought we had control, and suddenly BAM! virtually everyone was in the brig.

A few turns later, the brig was empty. Baltar left Galactica to join his partner in the Cylon fleet, and the rest of us were pardoned. Slowly, the fleet jumped closer to Kobol, as our resources dwindled.

We reached a point where the FTL was nearly ready; on my turn I would take us home; I would lead us to victory.

That’s when Baltar struck again: there was an explosion in our food stores. It was worse than a crisis. It was, the end. The human fleet starved in space, mere moments from freedom.

I had heard that it was difficult for the humans to win; at first I didn’t believe it. We seemed to be cruising along with little difficulty. However, now I understand. We had even overlooked a few rules and strategies that may have helped the Cylons even more: we didn’t know to launch Raiders during their activation step, if none were on the board, and Baltar probably would have been better off if he’d joined the Cylon fleet sooner.

I also forgot to abdicate military control of the fleet when I was thrown in the brig, but that probably didn’t affect the game’s outcome.

Next time, I want to play a pilot, or the president. Next time, maybe I’ll get to be a Cylon...

Brain Power / Consulting

2008-11-21T13:14:00.000-08:00

Lately most of my brain energy has been focused on developing in the new job, not to mention the physical energy I continue to expend duirng the last phase of marathon training.

As a result, I've been lax on adding to the blog. Below are recent observations following a class I co-facilitated yesterday:

11/21/08 – CPI Fundamentals

This group had many social workers and others for whom the class was mandatory.

I was struck again how there is often one or two questions written in the evals that could have easily been answered, had the student asked during the class. At some point, they need to meet us half-way. Students need to take responsibility for their own educations.

Having said that, I have an idea to improve based on the feedback that we got afterwards: it sounds like at least one person would have liked to hear ‘how a RPIW is born / comes into being’ story, not unlike the ‘how a bill becomes a law’ story from those old Schoolhouse Rock episodes in the ‘80s.

I always build in time for questions, and I frequently ask if they have any. This emphasizes that I certainly don’t do it too much, and could still benefit from building in more ways to pull out the class members.

There were several comments about the dryness of the content. Part of this probably ties back, again, to the fact that the members didn’t particularly want to be there. On the other hand, there’s always room to make the content more dynamic and interesting. This exists both for the presenter and for us as a group, as we continue to polish the material.

Another feedback disconnect occurred between the perception that the class was too long, and the sufficiency with which the content was covered. For example, I felt like the Quality module went really well. Discussion went well, folks were engaged, I trust in my own understanding of the content... yet I got many ‘4’ out of ‘5’s, along with feedback that the class was too long.

I wonder if there’s room to split the groups into 2’s and 3’s for the more pivotal discussions. That way everyone hears and is heard, even if the group gets fragmented.

The Airplane Simulation was the funnest part of the day. For one thing, it strongly resembled teaching folks to play a new game – more than resembled – in many ways, that’s what it is.

I’ve had some practice with this lately, so getting everyone to understand what they were to do went smoothly. Everything else just kinda worked. The total run time didn’t get out of hand, the lead time was reasonable, and shrank appropriately with the second run. Productivity worked, and tripled between runs (from .06 to .2). As always, it’s important to keep the units: the number represents percent of a plane built per person per minute.

Halloween 2008

2008-11-01T08:27:00.000-07:00

I'm still a little impressed that we managed to get home from work, into costume and go out for Halloween. We don't have a great record for Friday night entertainment.

We went to the Little Red Studio's "Erotic Haunted House, the Dreaming." Nearly all of the attendees were in costume, and it was a very attractive group of people. There was lots of lovely cleavage; cuteness abounded.

The show itself followed a young woman's subconscious throughout her dreams. As dreams often are, the narrative was largely non-linear, but with themes and characters that threaded throughout. Some lovely, some funny, some erotic and some rather horrifying.

After the show, we lucked out and hailed a cab very quickly, and were home a little after nine.

Collaboration and Competition

2008-10-29T10:59:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been thinking about collaboration and competition; I don't have any interesting conclusionk, but I do have a list of observations and opinions:

People, and by 'people' I include myself, often wrap their competitive natures in with their sense of self worth.

Competitive play is often exciting and more fun than non-competitive play.

Sometimes play with less competition is more fun.

Competition and hierarchy are often connected. Sometimes this is right and appropriate.

We as an American society tend to connect the two too much rather than too little.

The value of collaboration is often overlooked.

A collaborative effort will generally accomplish more than a competitive effort.

We are all in this life together.

When you're escaping from a burning plane, sometimes only the first [insert unknown coefficient] number of people out the door will survive.

Sometimes everyone can survive if you work together.

Unhealthy jealousy spawns from allowing competitive impulses too much influence over one's relationships.

D&D Feats

2008-10-25T07:42:00.000-07:00

Notes to self: when Ayn hits level four, he gets another feat. I plan to take Channel Divinity: Harmony of Erathis. This provides a +2 to hit once per encounter to an ally.

Paladins are primarily defenders, but also can perform as back-up leaders/healers or strikers. I'm trying to balance his feats and powers to fill out the dual nature of the character and to allow him to perform in some of those roles capably.

My vision is to focus on the defender and leader aspects; that aligns with his impulse to hit the bad guys balanced with his urge toward harmony.

When I first created him, I took Ritual Casting as his feat. However, he couldn't afford a spellbook, and hasn't been back to civilization since. Now, ritual casting doesn't really fit into his concept. So, I think I'll retrain that feat into something defendery: either Ferocious Rebuke which allows characters to push opponents once per encounter, or Weapon Focus: Heavy Blade, which gives +1 damage rolls.

Grace beats Karma

2008-10-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

I'm blessed by many things: good health, great job, amazing friends, a deep and ever growing love for my wife, the sun is shining etc...

I don't believe for a second that I 'deserve' any of it. Sure, I've earned much of it, I had to work hard to get this job, and I try to make and grow meaningful relationships... but that's not the same thing. It's a trap to think that anyone 'deserves' anything, whether it's good or bad.

Starving kids in Africa don't deserve their fate, and Bill Gates doesn't really deserve the resources he controls. Yes, he's earned it, but that's different.

1792

2008-10-21T19:01:00.000-07:00

1792 is the name of my favorite bourbon. I get confused by numbers sometimes.

Friday is for...

2008-10-17T17:19:00.001-07:00

relaxing.

I have a bottle of 1738, my favorite bourbon, purchased in honor of my recent (long time coming!) job transition.

Today I got to play tour guide to a group of five on the Children's CPI Showcase. I always love to play smarty pants and talk about Lean and Children's CPI journey.

Tomorrow, we're going out to dinner and to see a play about zombies. Life is good.

****
Earlier today I heard Paul Simon's "The Sounds of Silence" again thanks to Pandora.com. It disturbs and awes me as much now as when I first heard it twentyish years ago.

Smile

2008-10-16T20:55:00.001-07:00

Click the link.

Lessons from 21 Miles

2008-10-14T12:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday’s run was very difficult for a number of mostly unrelated reasons. I will list each difficulty along with what I suspect to be its root cause and my plan (if any) for countermeasure.

Problem: my back felt extremely tired and weak around mile 15.

Root Cause Analysis: I was wearing a long sleeved cotton t-shirt over a synthetic undershirt. While I didn’t get rained on, the sweat absorbed through the entire shirt and literally felt heavy. I believe the strain from running with that additional weight made my back sore.

Countermeasure: buy a better (synthetic and marathon ready) long sleeved shirt.
*******
Problem: general exhaustion for the last third of the run (approximately 10 miles in).

Root Cause Analysis: 1) While running up Holgate, to reach the spine of Beacon Hill, I hit a phase of good music. My pace was brisk, and eventually I passed a bicycle. While I felt great on my way up, once I hit the top, I thought my heart would explode. I was especially tired after that.
2) I didn’t eat much the day and morning before my run. It’s very likely that my overall nutritional status wasn’t where it should be for a 20+ mile run.

Countermeasure: 1) don’t sprint up hills; remember that there are many miles to be travelled.
2) Eat and drink well the day before.
***********
Problem: my toe bled some during the run. There appears to be no overall negative affects here.

Root Cause Analysis: This could have been caused by my socks and/or shoe fit. I have three different kinds of socks that I typically wear, and only one kind of shoe.

Countermeasure: use different, higher quality socks. I already own some that I think will work better.
**********
Problem: I experienced knee soreness less than halfway into my run. This led to inflammation, during and after the run and some weakness after.

Root Cause Analysis: Root cause unknown. This possibly has to do with my running form and mechanics. My shoes are good and well within their life span.

Countermeasure: none for now. I expect to be able to run again tomorrow, as scheduled. If problems persist, I may need medical attention.

New Toy

2008-10-09T10:11:00.000-07:00

I believe in shopping locally. I want a neighborhood that I can walk around in, where I can get what I want from a real business with real employees and real inventory.

When I went shopping for my new iPod, I went directly to the Radio Shack that’s just a few blocks from my home. Yes, I could have gone near where I work and had a bigger selection; I could have purchased online and had it engraved.

The only color they had in stock was pink. This would not have been my first choice, but it really looks pretty nifty. I’m happy that it’s a sharp, almost metallic pink, rather than cutesy Hello Kitty pink.

While I’m sure the 8 MG Nano isn’t special for earlier adopters, I’m very pleased with my new toy. Not only does it download and display album covers, it lets me load and display my own photos, which makes them digital wallet sizes. While I don’t need to have piles of pics there, I enjoy having my favorites at hand.

The End

2008-10-07T17:31:00.000-07:00

The iPod is dead. Like I've heard of the recent bank and financial institution collapses, the decline was slow, then it was fast.

The good news is, I had a relatively short run today, and the silence gave me more time to think about God and how God and the Tao are the same. Harmony in the world is often inharmonious seeming. Some days belong to the oak, others to the reed.

Marathon Miscellanea

2008-10-07T14:48:00.000-07:00

I registered for the 2008 Seattle Marathon today. On the application, there’s a blank for projected finish time: I entered 3:41:24, which, I believe roughly corresponds to an 8 ½ minute mile. Barring illness or injury, I think that’s reasonable, especially when the passion of the day catches me.

The iPod is going to be a photo finish. The battery swap that I wrote about earlier has shifted the machine into a new and different phase of unreliability. The battery, once charged, seems to last for several hours. That’s the good news. It seems to last around the same amount of time whether it’s playing or dormant. It also has developed a habit of spontaneously turning itself off. That’s the bad news.

Ayn's Journal

2008-10-04T11:02:00.001-07:00

I think I'll continue writing journal entries from my D&D character's perspective, and I may as well post that material here. We had a major battle during Wednesday's session. It was every bit as exciting as a video game boss-battle; really it was a little more exciting in some ways. In Dungeons and Dragons, there aren't save points to go back to. It's very possible for a character to really die, especially at relatively low levels, and often the consequences for defeat are significant. Fun stuff!

Ayn’s Journal Entry 2 – Kalarel

Shortly after the battle with the priest, we learned that Kalarel waited in the chamber below; the only way down was through a hole in the floor.

Like the priest, Kalarel seemed interested in negotiation; while there was little doubt that it would end in blood, Kalarel agreed to allow us down into his chamber, so that we could continue the discussion face to face. This allowed us all to climb down the rope and collect ourselves before the battle began.

Before the break down of negotiations, Kalarel admitted that dozens, if not hundreds of sacrifices had been required to move the ritual this far forward. The blood of these innocents still pooled in the chamber and dripped into another area below. This blood must be paid for. Kalarel’s death was only the beginning. Just as the innocents’ blood dripped red from Blackscale after the battle, so will the blood of the guilty conspirators drip from my blade. Justice will prevail in Winterhaven.
********
I must also comment on the nobility with which my cohorts conducted themselves. I’m not sure how we survived: after I destroyed the wight that Jack had kept occupied for most of the battle, I was struck by something… a blast from Kalarel perhaps, and all went dark. I awoke several minutes later, covered in blood. Had one of us failed, had one of us lapsed in courage or power, we would have perished, Shadraxil would have come through the portal, and Winterhaven would have been lost.

I fear that that once the business in Winterhaven is concluded, I may have to take my leave when I continue my journey home to Baldur’s Gate.

Random Run Bits

2008-10-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

My iPod is circling the drain, so I've had a few relatively short runs without podcast or musical support.

As a consequence, "I've Had the Time of My Life" from the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack weaseled its way into my brain and wouldn't go away.

******
I've mentioned before that I almost always wave at other runners. Most wave back, or nod; some are too wrapped up in their run to notice me. Occasionally, people get really excited, like we're long lost friends. A flash of almost excitement shows in their face, and they typically say, "Oh! Hi!"

I wonder if, in their endorphin soaked brains, they're confusing me for someone else. Or maybe they really enjoy the brief connection with a fellow runner.

Coordination and Planning

2008-10-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

I saw Clay Shirky on Ted.com discuss the rise of coordination in today’s technological era. For example, now that we all have cel phones, we no longer need intricate plans for finding one another at concerts. Flickr does a great job of coordinating millions of photographs by encouraging people to tag their own pictures. Users then search by tag and have access to the wondrous library of images.

In my line of work one can see the need for both when it comes to controlling the flow of work and managing resources. We spend a lot of time helping people create simple, preferably visual, systems to ask for help and / or control the flow of work through a system. Creating ways to coordinate work is wonderful and important. It is also often limited by the amount of planning done previously. It’s great to maximize the use of resources, it’s not so great when the resources aren’t available, again, to handle the spike of patients leaving the OR at 3 p.m. on a Wednesday.

Dungeons and Dragons Story Fragment

2008-10-01T12:19:00.000-07:00

Below is a journal entry I wrote from my character's (Ayn Blud) perspective based on Sunday's session. I had the privilege of running the party's wizard, Jack, since his player was absent. I had to leave before the end of the last battle, but I've since learned that my character, Ayn did prevail against the evil priest.

We are acutely aware now that every moment wasted is another moment Shar’s cult has to finish its ritual. Their success would have dire consequences that I would prefer not to consider.

Still, we were exhausted after our battle with the block of ooze; considering that the keep’s other inhabitants seem to avoid this area, we thought it best to rest, and to plan to face our dark adversaries in a final push, beginning tomorrow.
*******
Jack’s not quite himself today. He’s not talking much, and he seems to have forgotten that illusion spell he’s occasionally used before. Still, he remains mighty with the missles and fire, so there’s little reason to worry.
********
Looking back, my impatience turned into a benefit: we suspected a trap. When the group’s pondering and waffling became more than I could bear, I marched forward. I found myself trapped behind a wall of force, and the chamber filled with water. There were a few dicey moments when the water level reached my shoulders. I’m not a tall man, and I don’t swim particularly well...

Some of the others seemed to have some difficulty with some of the other statues in the room; I couldn’t really understand why they didn’t just stay away from them. Then again, I wasn’t really paying attention, with the water rising to chin level.

I notice that Jack was smart enough to stay away from the dangerous
statues...

**********
We entered an enormous and vile chamber of blood, sacrifice and pure evil. Before us stood a priest for this terrible religion. I was surprised when he initiated parley. It was clear that he was responsible for vast suffering and evil, still, it seemed wisest to engage him, perhaps discover more of what was going on. My rage built... I wanted nothing more than to slaughter this villain, but I restrained myself.

My comrades Rukh and Aelar also seemed interested in parley, so we approached. Negotiations quickly broke down when one (maybe both) insulted Shar. I don’t think they have much training in the art of diplomacy.

The next thing I remember, a swarm of vampires emerged from the darkness, and the foul priest struck me with a bolt of pure evil. Erathis was clearly watching, as Blackscale protected me. I charged the monster and engaged him, toe to toe, trusting that the others could handle the swarm of undead and whatever beasts lurked therein. He had to die, that’s all I really knew.

I felt exhilarated and godlike as the light of Erathis flowed through me and through my blade. Light will punish dark. I was again reminded of the advantages to fighting alongside (so to speak) a wizard such as Jack. His missiles and bursts of flame bring me great comfort during pitched battle.

I felt much less godlike as the battle wore on, but the villain also looked the worse for wear. Who would outlast the other? I refocused myself. Of course I would prevail. For Erathis. For order. For Winterhaven. For vengeance.

I had to leave before the end of the last battle, but I've since learned that Ayn did prevail against the evil priest.

Like a Coast Guard

2008-09-30T08:13:00.001-07:00

The New York Times got a telephone interview with some of the Somali pirates holding a shipload of tanks and other weapons.

The one who agreed to be quoted said some interesting things, including, "We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits those who illegally fish in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas. We are simply patrolling our seas. Think of us like a coast guard.”

I have no doubt that these really are the bad guys. At the same time, they're compelling figures.

Warships surround Somali pirates

2008-09-29T08:01:00.000-07:00

Alas, the tanks and other weapons don't appear destined for defending a pirate fortress. This will probably end in blood and gunfire.

Mariners, 2008

2008-09-29T07:50:00.000-07:00

I didn't make it to any Mariners games this season; I think this wasn't a bad season to miss.

I did, however, follow the team through its historically terrible year.

They lost 101 games; this makes them the first team to lose over a 100 games with a payroll of over 100 million dollars. Fabulous.

They did, however, win two more games than the Washington Nationals. That means they don't get the number one draft pick. Apparently there's a sterling young pitcher who's nearly ready for the majors. I don't know any details there. I do see that it appears that the 2008 Mariners can't even lose right.

Crazy Thought of Today's Run

2008-09-27T11:57:00.000-07:00

"What does a god care about the requests of mortals?" The god in question was, yes, myself, and the mortals were the construction workers. They had some streets blocked off and I was weaving in and around it all.

This thought came to me without irony. It only took a moment for me to regain my perspective... At best I'm a demigod.

I Don't Know

2008-09-27T11:53:00.001-07:00

what it means, but I now have both Facebook and Twitter accounts. Myspace is SO 2007.

I don't expect to do much twittering, but it is fun to follow the flow of ideas amongst one's friends and acquaintances.

Pirate Tankers?

2008-09-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

Pirates off the coast of Somalia recently seized a Ukrainian ship loaded with 33 T-72 tanks, other weapons, and “a substantial quantity of ammunition.”

Likely those ‘other weapons’ include machine guns that can be mounted on those tanks.

I wonder what they plan to do with those tanks. A pirate army equipped with Soviet era battle tanks could be formidable, even if they were used primarily to defend a stronghold.

Keeping those tanks would open a door to supply chain challenges: battle tanks are not simple machines to keep running, though I expect the simpler T-72’s are easier to keep going than the modern generation of U.S. tanks. Still, tanks need fuel (lots of fuel), and tanks need spare parts (lots of different spare parts). I would almost assume that some of those tanks would become ‘parts tanks.’

If they don’t drive them too much, and if they have a mechanic or four who can replace things as they break, (not to mention has access to the tools and equipment required) they can have a mighty armored company, at least compared with most other African militaries.

I have a hunch that they’ll sell those tanks to a small country somewhere who is better equipped to manage the resource requirements of an armored force.

On Schedule

2008-09-22T14:40:00.000-07:00

I'm on schedule to be debt free (minus the mortgage, but even there, our townhouse is worth more than we owe) in four months. Now, Christmas is between me and there, plus I have a few expenses coming up (I NEED some winter motorcycle gloves, and I really should refresh some of my work clothes). I may or may not be able to fit these things into my leftover cash.

On the other hand, I have my annual pay increase coming in November, and a chance for an additional raise after that.

Yay for approaching a big goal!

Ultimate Adventure

2008-09-22T14:16:00.000-07:00

At some point during the ’85 – ’86 school year, my four friends at the time and I decided to form a group. The group needed a name: we were all Marvel Comics fans, we all played Dungeons and Dragons, at least occasionally. These influences led directly to our choice: Ultimate Adventurers. Over the next couple of years, one of those friends moved away, and another member was allowed in. There have been ups and downs, arguments and reconciliations... right now, and for the last several years, our relationships are stronger than ever.

I’ve found that the group name we chose, “Ultimate Adventurers” has been a guiding light in my life. Stop laughing!

The word ‘adventure’ has been particularly powerful, especially as the definition has evolved for me. At its basis, to seek adventure is to accept a paradigm. There will be suffering, and the suffering is part of the point. Curiosity is a primary motivator, and novelty is valued by an adventurer.

Beyond that, the types of adventure are as varied as the human experience is broad; it isn’t necessarily about mountain climbing and jungle exploration, though those clearly are examples of adventures. Some find adventure in what they eat, the adventure of having and raising a child should not be overlooked: I have friends who are parents, and the simultaneous wonder and pain of raising a family is remarkable.

Developing relationships is another common adventure: to open up to a person almost always comes with some suffering, even if it’s self inflicted. In exchange you can develop a bond that grows over decades, you can understand life from new angles and perspectives.

I’m lucky to have stumbled on this perspective on adventure, and had it echoing in the back of my mind since that somewhat fateful school recess in the seventh grade.

Sunday

2008-09-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

Five miles are very easy after having run twenty miles a couple days before.

Twenty

2008-09-19T12:18:00.000-07:00

I ran twenty miles today. According to my schedule, that leaves two (I think...could be three) super long runs before the marathon in November, with a smattering of runs in the ten to fourteen mile range.

I've learned to load my ipod's playlist with more song, and fewer long podcasts. Music provides a significant boost that can push me through some of those tough miles.

I started by listening to a podcast about "Erotic Integrity". This got me thinking fondly about the state of my own marriage. We're in a fun phase and it feels like we're almost reshaping our marriage, but not because anything was broken. We're sharing some adventures (such as a trip to couple's night at The Little Red Spa last Sunday), and it seems like our communication is easier and smoother than ever.

As I crossed the Montlake Bridge, I entered familiar territory: I lived in the U-District for a few years, and went to school at UW. I did my share of running on the Burke Gillman trail, and it was nice to revisit that old stomping ground in an old familiar way. I spend a fair amount of time in that area nowadays, but I haven't run there for years.

On the Trail, I started crossing runners and bicyclists, not surprisingly. I always wave at runners, if they make the slightest amount of eye contact. I feel like it's an exclusive club, and everyone who is running belongs. I don't care if they're barely jogging for a quarter mile, or in the middle of a megamarathon. It's a cool club that I have tremendous respect for. I even nod and wave at people running with their dogs, who are taking up the whole walkway.

It annoys me when other runners don't make an effort to acknowledge my existence. Really, how hard is it to glance over and nod your head?

I ran all the way to the end of the trail; right at the edge of Ballard, by Fred Meyer.

A hippie chick on a bicycle was singing as she passed me. At the time, it annoyed me because she was riding slowly, and when I know someone's behind me, I have to monitor them. I don't want to be obstructive, and I don't want to get run over. I've probably already mentioned here somewhere that I already start with something of a prejudice against bicyclists.

In retrospect, that hippie chick was fine. She was doing her thing, I was doing mine, and there was no conflict.

My own sanity started to slip just a little on the way back. It was nothing serious; a little sleep deprivation makes you way crazier. I derived an unusual amount of satisfaction by crossing against the light in sight of a police car while the theme to the Dukes of Hazard played in my ears. I had a whole non-defense ready, should I have been stopped: "Yes, I know the law. Yes, I broke it intentionally. Yes, I'll do it again. I've already run 12 miles, and I'm not concerned with laws like that. Go ahead and give me the ticket." But my rebellious attitude was wasted.

As I crossed the Montlake Bridge, this time on the way back, I saw a Children's shuttle. I'm pretty sure the driver recognized me. She kinda did a double take and smile. I waved, and I think she waved back. I was kinda hoping I'd see a shuttle, and I kinda hope folks I know were riding and saw me. No exhibitionism here, no way. I'm too humble for that.

I think it was then that Fred Eaglesmith's "Angel of the Lord" came on, which filled me with profound thoughts of humanity's decline. I agreed with Fred: if Jesus is coming, he better come quick, while there are still those who worry and wait. At least it seemed profound to me then.

Bill Maher was dising on Sarah Palin when within a handful of blocks two, not one, but TWO, women in cars rolled in front of my passage. I was not amused, and I ran my fingers along both cars as I squirted by. Both were dusty. Maybe that will give them a reminder to drive right, and not block sidewalks. A little later a guy in a truck backed a few feet up, out of the line of the sidewalk. I assumed that he did that so as not to block my path. I waved and smiled at him, and he waved back.

A few miles later a guy who had seen me on the way out (over two hours prior!) cheered at me. That was cool. Somewhere in there Bonnie Tyler's "I Need a Hero" played. It's really the music that makes me a little less sane while I'm running. Not in a bad way, mind you. You're already crazy to start a thing like this, so it's good to harness the crazy just a little. I felt like a god walking (er running) on Earth, the white knight she was asking for, the hero.

A Battlestar Galactica podcast took me the rest of the way. That's good, because you can't stay crazy and arrogant the way Bonnie Tyler can make you for too long out there. It wouldn't be safe.

You can find the map to my run here.

How Does This Work?

2008-09-15T22:01:00.000-07:00

Flash Mind Reader

I just tried it five times, and it nailed the symbol each time. The last few times, I didn't touch the mouse or keyboard until clicking the bubble.

How does it know?

There Can’t Be Too Many of These Left

2008-09-12T10:59:00.000-07:00

I can only remember a couple other times when I can say, “I’m in the shape of my life.”

The first was in the fall of 1991, right after basic training (though I was also in quite good shape after running Bloomsday in 1 hour 23 minutes earlier that year). I’d put on thirty pounds of muscle and was a monster. Ironically, I couldn’t do all that many push-ups or sit-ups, which are the units by which I was measured at the time.

There were a few other peaks during that three year period; after I lost some of that basic training weight, the running, push-ups and sit-ups came easier. It was an active time of life when I bicycled a lot, ran a lot, and did my share of other exercise.

The next very notable period when I was ‘in the shape of my life’ was during my year with Oom Yung Doe. My flexibility, balance and overall strength was more impressive; this all peaked around March of 2001. Then I realized how unethical the operation was, learned that it was led and founded by a criminal.

Somewhere in there was the first ‘Run Up Colville Mountain.’ That may have been in 1999, or even earlier. I trained specifically for hill running during that go-around. Hmm, I remember my adversary’s (now ex) wife was pregnant with his first child at the time, so that must have been... eight years ago?

I was also in pretty good running condition during the first summer living in South Seattle. I had a new neighborhood to explore, and not a whole lot else in the way of hobbies. That was 2005. I was also in training for our third race up The Mountain (which I won), and I ran the 5-mile course during the Portland Marathon (in which I received an age group award).

This year, however, I’ve eclipsed all of my life’s running related conditioning. I’ve run over 8 ½ miles for the first time in my life. And over 10, and 12 and 14... In a little over a week, I plan to run 20 miles for the first time in my life. Of course, this should culminate in 26.2 on November 30th.

Looking back, the end of basic training, the end of my Oom Yung Doe year, and now, as I wind toward the latter phase of my marathon training, are all notable as different, yet equal ‘shape of my life’ periods. Only then have I exercised an hour or more per day, most days.

Now I need to convince my wife to take some naked pictures of me in order to commemorate this phase (no, they won’t be posted here). There can’t be too many of these periods left in my life: it takes a lot of time and energy to be this awesome!

PAX 2008

2008-08-30T18:07:00.000-07:00

PAX, short for Penny Arcade Expo, is this weekend in Seattle's convention center. Since it's the largest video game convention in the country (possibly the world?), I figured I ought to go, at least for a day.

There were many many systems set up for demo play. All the big dealers (EA, Blizzard, Bungie etc...) had either consoles or PC's with high def monitors littered around, loaded with the newest upcoming games.

These spots were awfully crowded, so I generally stayed away. I did play some of the Penny Arcade game. I tried to load the demo online when it was first released, but my computer won't handle it. The game itself was pretty sweet, but I was most impressed by the monitor. I had suspicions that a high quality, high definition screen would be the first big purchase, post debt pay-off, and this confirmed it. New games are designed to be played on quality screens, so there's not much point in upgrading systems without a proper screen to play on.

The other high point was getting to demo the Battlestar Galactica board game. Apparently it was released at Gen-Con, where they brought 200 copies. Someone had the foresight to save 30 of those for PAX, and it will be released to mass markets in mid October. The BSG boardgame plays a little like Munchkin: the players are divided up into factions as the game plays out, and those factions can shift. Like Munchkin, there are waves of conflict between the factions, where one faction succeeds by spending all its resources. The next faction then might have an advantage for the next turn. Unlike Munchkin, the tone is very Battlestar. In our game, I played Chief Tyrol, who had been outed as a Cylon and thrown in the brig. Now, I happened to be a human sympathizer, but I still was stuck in the brig. Meanwhile, two groups of heavy raiders landed aboard the Galactica and cylon centurian boarding parties ran amock. The FTL drive was damaged, as was the viper bay and admiral's quarters. Who could fix that damage? The chief, who was stuck in the brig. Oh, and two basestars and a small fleet of raiders were in stricking distance. It was awesome. As we ran out of time (it was a demo, so we didn't get a complete game), I was finally released and made my way to fix the FTL drive. As far as I could tell, no individual can win the game. If the fleet runs out of food, fuel, morale, population (eek!), or if the Galactica is destroyed, the Cylons win. If the fleet jumps far enough away, they escape and the humans win.

Ron Sims Has a Plan

2008-08-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

King Co. Metro bus fares could go up 50 cents by 2010

It's a good start toward addressing the challenges faced by the increased bus ridership matched with increased diesel prices.

It isn't a long term funding plan, but it does mitigate fare increases and addresses the urgent needs of the now.

New Personal Distance Record

2008-08-24T11:02:00.001-07:00

I just ran 14 miles.

My pace was a little slow, but that's a-okay.

I don't enjoy my encounters with dog walkers and people with small children. Stay out of my fucking side of the path. It's annoying.

On the other hand, I give runners who are with their dogs or pushing their children the full nod and wave of respect that I have for all runners / joggers.

I was passed today, for the first time this year. While I want to chalk it up to the fact that I was working on my 14th mile, this guy was grooving along pretty quickly, and looked in exceptionally good shape. He also had a mohawk, which still annoys me.

The Great iPod Battery Swap of 2008

2008-08-23T13:04:00.000-07:00

My iPod was a hand-me down Mini whose battery was pretty crappy when I received it a year and a half ago. I've grown accustomed to carrying the charger with me, and I expect only a couple hours of charge at a time.

Now that I'm training for the Seattle Marathon in November, this is a concern. I don't want my power to crap out when I'm trying to play "Flying High" at mile 25.

I'm still working on the last of my credit card debt, and expect to have it paid off around February of next year. To keep on that schedule, I don't have a whole lot of flex in my budget. Besides, aside from the battery issue, the iPod suites my needs.

I did a little research and found an "iPod mini Battery Replacement Kit"at Amazon for less than ten dollars, including shipping. I decided that it was worth the risk.

The kit came quickly, and had all the equipment I needed for the project. However, the instructions were not for the iPod mini, and were no help whatsoever. I was prepared for this, however. Some of the product reviews complained about the instructions, and recommended those found at cnet.com. Sure enough, not only does cnet have instructions, they have a series of videos that show you what to do.

Really, it isn't that complicated. It does require some apptitude for fiddling with small things. Anyone who has added a card to his computer, built a model, worked with beads or done anything similar can handle this job.

At the end of it all, I had no extra parts laying around, and the iPod lit up, just like before. Before I can declare complete success, I'll have to see how well the battery holds its charge. I'm going to need four good hours to get through those 26.2 miles in November.

Dungeons and Dragons, 4th Edition

2008-08-21T21:26:00.000-07:00

Over the last month I've joined two Dungeons and Dragons groups. The first is highly motivated, almost (but not quite!) too motivated. Many would play until 11 p.m. on weeknights, and they're all too happy to play ten hours on one weekend a month. They are also happy to stop playing at 10 p.m., and so far, no one seems to mind if you miss a session.

I think the sweet spot for RPG's is around five total players, including DM. As you get larger than that, it's hard to focus on the individuals, and you have to wait longer for your turn. A group of seven seems manageable - that's how large this group is - but it's a bit much.

The second group hasn't quite hit lift off yet, but it's promising. These folks seem to have more going on and want to play in smaller chunks.

To be honest, I was only looking for one regular game. I am training for a marathon, after all. So far, I really like these guys though, so we'll see how it goes. It's also a little easier to take my motorcycle around town in the summer, making the commute fairly easy. If it all becomes too much, I'll have to drop something.

In the meantime, my first group is still chugging along, about once per month. That's my main RPG creative outlet, and I find myself trying to infuse the role playing character focus from that group into D&D. Happily, both D&D groups seem open to that sort of thing.

NFL Preseason

2008-08-11T09:03:00.000-07:00

Friday night’s Seahawks / Vikings preseason game was everything a Seahawks fan could hope for. The starters and known back-ups played well, there were no significant injuries, and we got a good look at the newbies playing for roster spots.

The post Alexander era running game made its debut: Julius Jones and former back-up Maurice Morris performed solidly; there really seems to be something to the revamped running game designed for ‘hit the hole’ guys like Morris and Jones.

One interesting ripple was that rookie Justin Forsett had a notably better game than veteran T.J. Duckett. I don’t know the details of Duckett’s contract, but I do know that he isn’t some A-list superstar who’s guaranteed a spot on the team. I wouldn’t be surprised if Forsett beats him out of that roster spot. I suppose they could put Forsett on the practice squad, but that’s risky: practice squad guys can be signed to another team at any time.

I’m in an odd position with the Washington Redskins this year. I’m a Jim Zorn fan. I want him to succeed. However, the team name is one of the few genuinely offensive team brands in professional or college sports. In general, I have no objection with American Indian based mascots, such as ‘Chiefs,’ ‘Warriors,’ or ‘Braves,’ just as I don’t mind North or Central European mascots such as the ‘Vikings’ or ‘Saints.’ ‘Redskins’ however is something else entirely. ‘Redskin’ is a derogatory term. While it may not have the kick it used to have, it hasn’t been entirely reclaimed either. I put it squarely in the same category as the Cleveland Indians’ Chief Wahoo logo. Both should be banished.

You won’t hear me leading a ‘Go Redskins’ cheer, but I probably will quietly follow the team for the next few years, and quietly pull for their success.

Drinking out of Cups

2008-08-05T20:58:00.000-07:00

Unexpected and brilliant.

Fred Alexander, RIP

2008-08-03T16:05:00.001-07:00

Fred Alexander worked at Children's for 11 years. I came to know him around four years ago, when I was working as the Ambulatory Facilities and Equipment coordinator. I found broken things, I called B&E, and often Fred was sent to fix the problem.

He was a very good natured and professional man; for the last couple years, whenever he saw me in the hall, he'd say, "Uh, oh, there's trouble..." and we'd both laugh.

He died last week, of natural causes. There was a memorial today at the hospital. It's amazing what a person doesn't know about another person's life. I think at work, we connect with people generally on a couple levels, and that's often the end of it. For example, Fred was in the Marines, and was a huge sports fan. I was in the Army and am a huge NFL fan, and a moderate Mariners fan. We never discussed those things.

Anyway, Fred, this one's for you. I miss you already. [Christ, I'm here balling as I write this. I've become such a baby about stuff like this. I hope I never have to speak at someone's funeral, 'cause I'd probably cry through the whole thing. I probably will have to someday though; normally I'm a good pubic speaker]

Break the Stereotype

2008-08-02T23:54:00.000-07:00

So, I played Dungeons and Dragons, 4th editon for the first time today, DM'd by a 14 year old girl, with three other thirty something players and another teenager player. We had great fun.

I will admit, I would have enjoyed a bit more in-character role-playing. I don't like it when DM's read background information from their documents; I'd rather play it out.

I played a pre-generated female dwarven fighter. I never play dwarves, and I never play females. It was a good change for me.

One offs are a great opportunity to experiment with different types of characters.

I also met a couple guys who are starting a campaign in Greenlake soon. The thing is, I have someone in Ballard who I've been emailing, who will also be starting a campaign. I'll probably play with both at first. When two games gets to be too much, I'll pick my favorite (or most convenient).

I Think it's a Tradition Now.

2008-07-29T20:08:00.000-07:00

Today is Nora and my 2nd wedding anniversary.

Again, we went to the Little Red Day Spa for massages and watsu. They always treat us well there.

I hope we can make it there a time or two during the year this time. We still haven't been to the Little Red Studio for one of their shows, either. I'm pretty sure we'll take care of that sometime soon.